In the photograph below, I was trying to focus on the whole meaning of my photographs, like a journey of my life showing the environments I surround myself in. This is represented by the fact they were taken in a mirror in the car. One can also faintly make out that the beach is what’s in the foreground, meaning we’ve stopped to take time at the beach, however I didn’t want to capture it that simply so I thought I’d try and experiment with things such as reflection and composition.
The photographs below were inspired mainly by the photographer Ivan Troyanovsky. This shoot was different for me as I used the natural lighting of the sun, rather than using artificial flash lighting, which I tended to use on my last project looking back at Helmut Newton. This makes the way you photograph completely different, as with flash you can photograph wherever as it’s going to be well lighten with high contrasts, however with natural lighting you must think about the positioning of the model before shooting, whether you will get a silhouette or too much shadow etc.
An example of the use of lighting is shown below, where the photograph is being shot towards the light, whereas in all the others i’ve shot with my back to the sun, this is because after taking this photograph, I didn’t think the high exposure on the right hand side worked that well.
In this photograph I tried to capture the emotions behind the subject. I wanted to try and and create a natural image where in which the facial expressions of the model involved were not forced or provoked by the camera. The photograph features split organic lighting, which enhances and emphasizes the facial features consequently bringing out the smile.
I have attempted to capture the two images below as a set as they work effectively as a pair. Both photographs tell a natural narrative, as the subject can be seen identifying the presence of a camera and producing a reaction. The composition is reliant upon a low-angle perspective which works successfully due the way it captures the subjects relaxed body language whilst simultaneously incorporating the background and landscape. This enables the viewer to establish a connection between the model and surrounding environment, hence generating an atmospheric aesthetic.
The most visually pleasing component of this image is the distortion of color tones which produces a vintage, relaxed aesthetic. This is very similar to the way Jeurgen Teller edits her photographs.
In the triptych below the composition works well, as the rock-face and the chem-trail are parallel to one another which creates a frame around the model and the landscape.
I then edited the photographs in black&white, for experimentation purposes. Personally I think distortion of color tones which produced a vintage feel were better than just the black and white, as the black and white took away from the landscape aspect of the photograph, which I believe is an important component for the images from this shoot.
Typically in portraits having ones eyes closed doesn’t work, however I believe the eyes being closed links nicely with this image, as he looks very relaxed and to say he is hanging off a cliff face shows the attitude he has to the environment he is surrounding himself in.
Tanja Deman is a multimedia artist born in Croatia. She works with various mediums such as photography, collage as well as physical statues and art pieces which explore the concept of the environment as well as its sense of space and dynamic effect.
Collective Narratives
In some of her most recent work she has created compelling black and white photographs where she uses digital tools such as Photoshop to combine images reflecting the natural and urban landscape to evoke a compelling narrative. This contrast and tension of urban and natural forces is something I plan on exploring and incorporating into my own work.
Dust Storm (2010)
The above image depicts a very surrealist scene featuring a tall building surrounded by dust overlooking a large quarry in the foreground. The photograph features very few components, which adds to the dreamy, surrealist style. There is an intriguing contrast between the very formal, congruous vertical shapes of the building in contrast to the jagged, dusty shapes of the quarry.
After looking at the work of Tanja Deman I wanted to experiment and explore how Photoshop could be used to combine two or more images to create something innovative and intriguing.
I wanted my photographs to portray the contrast in landscapes such as the idea of a busy city landscape contrasted with the calmness of the countryside. I picked landscape photographs taken for my AS coursework, I has a selection of seascapes as well as urban landscapes which I could use. I wanted to create a series rather then a single image so I could use different landscapes. I picked a photograph of my brother looking blankly at the camera to emphasize the effects of human presence on the environment. I used the same image over layed onto the landscape backgrounds to create a sense of consistency as well as develop a series.
I started with these two landscape backgrounds. I liked the variation of light in the first from the sky and dark in the second which makes an interesting contrast. I also wanted to make these both black and white similar to Deman’s work. I also think it is easier to edit in black and white as the lighting varies in the two separate images, making them appear less fitting. I then increased the contrast and put down the brightness to make the two photographs blend together better. I also like the contrast of high energy in the second photograph which was a long exposure of the tunnel in St Helier and the calm and softness of the first landscape.
I wanted to show a contrast of texture in the top two images. I also picked images where the horizon was at the same level, giving more continuity to the images, making them work better as a series as well as enabling a narrative in the photograph. I also kept a colour version to show the contrast in the backgrounds, I feel they don’t work as well because of the colour difference between the background and the superimposed image.
As a small starting point to my Environment project, I initially begin to go through a selection of baby photographs, of myself. This was not so much to use the imagery but more to gather an understanding into myself at this age and what my family life and environment was like. From birth, I only had my mother to look after me full time. I was born in Gloucester, England, where I lived with my grandmother (Dad’s side) for six months until my mum decided she would move back to Jersey to stay with her mother.
After A few years of moving back her mother had passed away, making my mum the only family member I had over here. Therefore I grew up with just her as a baby and up until I was much older. This meant that I had to heavily rely on friends as I grew up as other family members were never close to home.
In my last project I explored different female stereotypes of the 20th Century, selecting a cultural or political stereptype for each decade from the 1910’s to the 1990’s. I explored this characters with an outside perspective and now I would like to explore groups and stereotypes associated with these groups that I personally fit into. I think it would be interesting to play off these stereotypes and look at to what extent I conform to them. I hope to create a series of studio portraits that exaggerate these stereotypes in a way that will hopefully show that I am all of these and a the same time none of these stereotypes. I hope to make viewers consider the different stereotypes or boxes that they fit into.
Feminist
I personally identify as a feminist. “Feminism is the conviction that gender has been, and continues to be, a fundamental category for the organization of culture. Moreover, the pattern of that organization usually favors men over women.” P. Phelan (2014) It is my personal opinion that women and men should be equal and as of yet, women are considered not as important as men. I believe that people of any gender identity, race, cultural or financial background, nationality or sexual orientation should have the same rights. I do on occasion conform to the stereotype of an angry feminist, when in discussions surrounding women’s rights I can get frustrated with narrow minded people with misogynist ideals. I also think that when discussing issues surrounding gender inequality, sometimes women need to be loud and need to be passionate about what they believe in to be heard, and this can make them come across as angry. I hate the stereotype that feminists hate men. It is untrue, feminism is not about women being more important than men it is simple about women, the oppressed gender, to be equal to men, the socially dominant gender in our patriarchal society.
Art Student
There are a few stereotypical qualities associated with art students. They are many different preconceptions about artists and art students, these include: mental health problems, drug abuse, middle class backgrounds (presumably because the struggle of living hand to mouth is not something the middle class are used to and art is often not a very lucrative profession) and a need to feel like a “unique snowflake” while at the same time looking like every other art student. Another stereotype is that art students can be full of self importance and are often very pretentious when discussing art work. Some art students are not however, self confident and full of self doubt, always feeling like there work is not good enough and that other artists on their course are much better than them. Aesthetic stereotypes of of a female art student is the tumblr and instagram popularised hairstyle known as “space” buns, some kind of facial piercing, statement lipstick, a “indy” brand back pack and doc marten boots.
Opera/ Classical Singer
As a young person I feel that I don’t fit into most of the preconceptions of what a female opera singer is. The most common opera singer stereotype is a large middle aged woman with huge blonde braids and a horned helmet introduced by the soprano singer Frida Leider (1888-1975) who played Sieglinde in the Wagner Opera “Die Walkure” Above is a modern recording of the role performed by Karita Mattila. Other stereotypes associated with female soprano opera singers like myself is that they are overly dramatic and consider themselves superior to alto singer because of the extreme range of high notes that they can perform. Another stereotype is of course the beautiful dresses and gown that they perform in as well as the range of facial expressions and hand movements that they utilise to make their performance more dramatic.
Blonde
The stereotypes associated with women with blonde hair are that she must have a low IQ, be incredibly high maintenance, a diva, a bitch or be sexually promiscuous or “easy”. For the most part these preconceptions tied to women with blonde hair are rather negative and also often, untrue. Most positive stereotypes for women with blonde hair is that they are fun and bubbly or are simply of Scandinavian decent. As a child I had blonde hair but as I got older my hair darkened into a mousy, ashy light brown. I have coloured my hair many times from the age of 13 and have been blonde more than once during this 5 year period. I had been bleaching my hair to a platinum blonde coloured for over a year in order to die it pink, when I was sick of doing so I decided to leave it blonde and just maintain he brown roots. I had some bad experiences being a young blonde woman. I experienced cat calling much more frequently than when i had pink or brown hair, the most popular being “Hey, Blondie”. I also experienced multiple scenarios on the one time I went clubbing with blonde hair, two different men in different clubs thought that they had the right to touch me without asking or even talking to me. This bad experience along with a concern for my own safety and the health of my hair drove me to die my hair back to it’s natural colour. I hate that men associate blonde hair with someone who is “easy” because I believe this is why those men thought that they could do whatever they wanted. I have experienced much less catcalling since being a brunette again, only two instances in two months and I have had no bad experiences out clubbing either which reinforces my reasons to believe that it was my hair colour that was sending the wrong message. As a feminist I want to live in a world where women should be able to have whatever hair colour they want without being judged, but unfortunately that is not the world we live in and my safety comes first.
Beauty Pageant Winner
I think that there are many pre-conceptions about women who enter beauty pageants, they are often perceived as vain, high maintenance and full of self importance. I personally think that these seemingly negative qualities are inaccurate and what people are picking up on is high self confidence. To a certain extent these sort of competitions are superficial as generally speaking, it is attractive, conventionally beautiful women who enter. However, these women also need to be well spoken and articulate as they are ambassadors for their country, state, county, province, town or village. On Saturday 11th March I was crowned Miss Saint Helier 2017. My experience was very positive as I felt that the focus was definitely on the public speaking skills than the beauty aspect of the competition. I want to explore and research the ideas and history behind beauty pageants further before producing a response to my experience in the beauty pageant world as i was also a runner up for Miss Jersey Battle of Flowers 2016.
